Saturday, November 28, 2009

Bella Venezia!!

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Grand Canal View From the Rialto Bridge

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Mosaics on the Basilica

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Piazza San Marco

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My favorite Picture Spot

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Nicolo

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My Platform

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Vaparetto Travel

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Burano Color

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Burano Color

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Mouth Blown Glass Murano, Italy

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View of the Grand Canal

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Ahhhhh~ Venezia!

We set foot on Venice running.
I had booked a rather comfy hotel in Mestre; on the other side of the lagoon. They took very good care of us by getting us 36 hour passes for the bus and pointing us to the bus stop around the corner from the hotel that would take us to the Venice bus station, Piazzle Roma. Also getting vaparetto tickets, so that we didn't have to do that when we arrived in Venice. Vaparettos are water buses that you take to get from place to place around Venice. From there we boarded a vaparato, to the neighboring islands of Murano,(famous for mouth blown glass), and Burano,(famous for their lace and tapestries).

We saw the sights and were witnessed to a family squabble with a lot of Italian yelling and pushing in a glass show room that cleared the place as soon as the yelling stopped! Talk about a bull in a china shop!

On to Burano for wandering off the beaten path to take in all the magnificent color! My quote here was,"If you were a house here, what color would you be?"
Lemon,lime,raspberry,wine,aquamarine blue,pea green,red,tangerine. it is all here, making it quite a wonder to see and very pleasing. There is also a bell tower that is leaning, causing you to wonder how much longer will it stay upright?
This is a place Steve and I would like to get a house to stay for about 6 months and enjoy life.
Will it happen? I don't know, but we like to dream.
It was so much fun to bring friends here and encourage them to explore and enjoy!

Back on the main island of Venice, we walked into the Piazza San Marco with it's unusually beautiful Basilica, I had never seen anything quite like it. It almost appears Moorish in architecture.It is suppose to house the relic of Saint Mark, the Apostle, brought there from Alexandria, Egypt. How he ended up in Alexandria is a puzzle to me, but they brought him back to Italy for safe keeping. It is awe inspiring to stand in that square and look at the Basilica itself with it's beautiful marble archeticture and mosiacs and the surrounding buildings , but try it with a full moon! WOW! La Bella Luna!

The next morning we returned to the Piazza and made our way through the inner streets and over canals to search for the perfect Gondolier. Ours was Nicolo Dolge Trevesano.

Off we floated,enchanted to cruse the canals of Venice with beautiful views of hard to see buildings. We floated past Marco Polo's home. I even recognised a platform that I have stood on photographing others gliding by in gondolas, and my favorite restaurant that is so picturesque!
I was so excited to be in familiar areas I had previously explored on foot!
A little shopping, a little exploring and then it was time to return home to the farmhouse.
Ahhh, I feel that we will return again some day!

Friday, November 27, 2009

Michelangelo's Triumph

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Visit with Marcella

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The beautiful Baptisimal Doors and throngs of people

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Another view of this beautiful Duomo

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A view from inside the Dome

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The magnificent Duomo, the first dome ever built

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Ponte Vecchio Bridge

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Panarama of Florence

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Florence,Venice and the Cinque Terre'

Part 1

While staying in our farmhouse provided rest and repose, we did venture out beyond our country landscape to the more populated places that our travel guru, Rick Steves features in his travel television show and books.
Three of our favorites, that make our hearts leap when thinking of them.
All three places are entirely different from each other, yet have great charm and draw you back to themselves.

Our first excursion was a day trip to Florence.We piled into the super van that accomodated the 8 of us and made our way to this fabulous City.
Having had problems with driving here in past visits, we opted to park up at the Piazzale Michelangelo and walk down into the city from there. The Piazzale parking area provided a beautiful panaramic view of this spectacular city for us.

Our friends had museum dates, so Steve and I took off for the central market and for a visit with our dear friend Marcella, from Casa Rabatti. We have stayed with her at her establishment each time we travl to Italy.
With our broken Italian, and her broken English, we managed a nice visit trying to catch up on her life since we last saw her, took pictures and said our goodbyes and promised that we would see her again sometime soon. She is such a sweetie.

We then made our way to the Acadamia Museum to meet with DAVID.
What a handsome statue made from marble, giant and polished so beautifully.
How did it get so, chiseled and smoothed by hand before any machine was ever crafted to do this?

For some reason, there is a constant warning ....."NO PHOTOS ", The David has stood outside in the weather for many,many years, and now they refuse to allow photos to be taken of this breath taking sculpture? Well, we have to confess, we were among the crowd that took what we could when no one was looking.

The Duomo was as beautiful as ever, but unfortunately there was not enough time to climb to the top. The Baptismal Doors were there shining as georgously as they always have, and the traffic buzzing madly about the tourists and city dwellers. All geting along well with the foriegners invading their home.

Florence deserves more than the day that we gave it, but one must be called to her and the desire to explore her vast streets and marketplaces.
We had a wonderful day.